--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We never knew an ignorant person yet but…" description: "\"We never knew an ignorant person yet but was prejudiced.\" — Mark Twain" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08a/mark-twain-22_ignorance_we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but_3039259.png" --- # We never knew an ignorant person yet but was prejudiced. ![“We never knew an ignorant person yet but was prejudiced.” quote by Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08a/mark-twain-22_ignorance_we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but_3039259.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08a/mark-twain-22_ignorance_we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but_3039259.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08a/mark-twain-22_ignorance_we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but_3039259.png) > “We never knew an ignorant person yet but was prejudiced.” [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Ignorance often coexists with prejudice, showing that lack of knowledge doesn’t prevent bias. **In simple terms:** People can be biased without being ignorant. Key Takeaway Challenge assumptions by seeking knowledge. Themes prejudice ignorance bias Mood reflective thoughtful Type educational inspirational When to use this quote - schools - workplaces - social media - community groups Key Concepts cognitive bias social psychology education Questions to Reflect On - What steps can reduce bias beyond information? - How does personal experience shape prejudice? A Different Perspective Prejudice can persist even after education if underlying attitudes remain. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Ignorant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorant/) [Ignorant person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorant-person/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Knew Ignorant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knew-ignorant-3987556/) [Person Prejudiced](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/person-prejudiced-5001351/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) [Prejudice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prejudice/) [Prejudiced](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prejudiced/) ## Related quotes > [“I knew I was ignorant trying to be wise, lazy pretending to work hard, and over-sensitive to what others thought of me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-swaner/i-knew-i-was-ignorant-trying-to-be-wise-lazy-pretending-to-work-hard/) [Ruth Swaner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-swaner/) > [...but then the general trouble with ignorance is always that the ignorant person has no idea that that's what they are. You can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-de-bernieres/but-then-the-general-trouble-with-ignorance-is-always-that-the/) [Louis de Bernieres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-de-bernieres/) > [An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-rogers/an-ignorant-person-is-one-who-doesn-t-know-what-you-have-just-found/) [Will Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-rogers/) > [An ignorant person is, by the very fact of his or her ignorance, a very dangerous person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hendrik-willem-van-loon/an-ignorant-person-is-by-the-very-fact-of-his-or-her-ignorance-a-very/) [Hendrik Willem van Loon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hendrik-willem-van-loon/) > [An ignorant person is poorer than the man who has no money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/an-ignorant-person-is-poorer-than-the-man-who-has-no-money/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [Avoid banquets which are given by strangers an ignorant persons. But if there is ever occasion to join them, let your attention be carefully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/avoid-banquets-which-are-given-by-strangers-an-ignorant-persons-but/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [There's a difference between being ignorant and being stupid... For me, an ignorant person is someone who makes the wrong decision or a bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daryl-davis/there-s-a-difference-between-being-ignorant-and-being-stupid-for-me/) [Daryl Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daryl-davis/) > [The modification of prejudice takes a long time, and occurs as the result of a thousand things that happen to the prejudiced person -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/the-modification-of-prejudice-takes-a-long-time-and-occurs-as-the/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [Prejudice is a learned trait. You're not born prejudiced; you're taught it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-r-swindoll/prejudice-is-a-learned-trait-you-re-not-born-prejudiced-you-re-taught/) [Charles R. Swindoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-r-swindoll/) > [You deny that man is really so prejudiced as I suppose him; talk to him then of some foreign country, ask him what religion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulke-greville-1st-baron-brooke/you-deny-that-man-is-really-so-prejudiced-as-i-suppose-him-talk-to/) [Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulke-greville-1st-baron-brooke/) > [“These days, most Americans who are unashamedly prejudiced know better than to say so, except to a secure, like-minded audience, given that many people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/these-days-most-americans-who-are-unashamedly-prejudiced-know-better/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [To be prejudiced is the privilege of the thinking human being. ... The open mind is the empty mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/to-be-prejudiced-is-the-privilege-of-the-thinking-human-being-the/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [“A wise person, if he doesn’t like your ideas, will try to defeat you with counter-arguments; a foolish and ignorant person, if he doesn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/a-wise-person-if-he-doesn-t-like-your-ideas-will-try-to-defeat-you/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person; in actual life, men not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/in-theory-it-is-easy-to-convince-an-ignorant-person-in-actual-life/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [“Muad’Dib: “If a child, an untrained person, an ignorant person, or an insane person incites trouble, it is the fault of authority for not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/muad-dib-if-a-child-an-untrained-person-an-ignorant-person-or-an/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) ## More by Mark Twain > [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-creator-sat-upon-the-throne-thinking-behind-him-stretched-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-s-easy-to-quit-smoking-i-ve-done-it-hundreds-of-times/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“It is never wrong to do the right thing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-is-never-wrong-to-do-the-right-thing/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-man-accustomed-to-american-food-and-american-domestic-cookery-would/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [There is nothing training can't cannot do. Nothing is above its reach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/there-is-nothing-training-can-t-cannot-do-nothing-is-above-its-reach/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I never write Metropolis for seven cents because I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman because I can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-never-write-metropolis-for-seven-cents-because-i-can-get-the-same/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [The higher animals get their teeth without pain or inconvenience. Man gets his through months and months of cruel torture; he will never get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-higher-animals-get-their-teeth-without-pain-or-inconvenience-man/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“As far as I can see, Italy, for fifteen hundred years, has turned all her energies, all her finances, and all her industry to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/as-far-as-i-can-see-italy-for-fifteen-hundred-years-has-turned-all/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Begin with the determination to succeed and the work is half done already.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/begin-with-the-determination-to-succeed-and-the-work-is-half-done/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Many public-school children seem to know only two dates—1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don't know what happened on either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/many-public-school-children-seem-to-know-only-two-dates-1492-and-4th/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [If we could imagine such a man, that is a man who could invent the fly and send him out on his mission and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-we-could-imagine-such-a-man-that-is-a-man-who-could-invent-the-fly/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/you-perceive-now-that-these-things-are-all-impossible-except-in-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/lord-save-us-all-from-a-hope-tree-that-has-lost-the-faculty-of/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) [Explore all 3,277 Mark Twain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) ## More Ignorance quotes > [My folks tried to make a preacher of me and missed by a narrow margin… I would have made a good one if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/my-folks-tried-to-make-a-preacher-of-me-and-missed-by-a-narrow-margin/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Ignorance is not bliss — it is oblivion. Determined ignorance is the hastiest kind of oblivion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-wylie/ignorance-is-not-bliss-it-is-oblivion-determined-ignorance-is-the/) [Philip Wylie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-wylie/) > [... informed ignorance provides the natural state of mind for research scientists at the ever-shifting frontiers of knowledge. People who believe themselves ignorant of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/informed-ignorance-provides-the-natural-state-of-mind-for-research/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“If knowledge does not liberate the self from the self, then ignorance is better than such knowledge.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hakim-sanai/if-knowledge-does-not-liberate-the-self-from-the-self-then-ignorance/) [Hakim Sanai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hakim-sanai/) > [You are senile old fool, and because of your impudence, I cannot fathom how you still live!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-are-senile-old-fool-and-because-of-your-impudence-i-cannot-fathom/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/surely-god-could-have-caused-birds-to-fly-with-their-bones-made-of/) [Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/) > [“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/knowledge-will-forever-govern-ignorance-and-a-people-who-mean-to-be/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [“Don’t turn your face away. Once you’ve seen, you can no longer act like you don’t know. Open your eyes to the truth. It’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vashti-quiroz-vega/don-t-turn-your-face-away-once-you-ve-seen-you-can-no-longer-act-like/) [Vashti Quiroz-Vega](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vashti-quiroz-vega/) > [Nothing is worse than active ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/nothing-is-worse-than-active-ignorance/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/the-only-victories-which-leave-no-regret-are-those-which-are-gained/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [“Those who embrace prejudice doom themselves to live in ignorance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-p-lintz-sr/those-who-embrace-prejudice-doom-themselves-to-live-in-ignorance/) [John P Lintz Sr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-p-lintz-sr/) > [“You are a lawmaker in your own right.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/you-are-a-lawmaker-in-your-own-right/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [Sanity can take one of only two forms: that of ignorance, or denial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-r-audette/sanity-can-take-one-of-only-two-forms-that-of-ignorance-or-denial/) [Derek R. Audette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-r-audette/) [Browse all 5,657 Ignorance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We never knew an ignorant person yet but was prejudiced.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Twain" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but-was-prejudiced/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ignorance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but-was-prejudiced/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08a/mark-twain-22_ignorance_we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but_3039259.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08a/mark-twain-22_ignorance_we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but_3039259.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08a/mark-twain-22_ignorance_we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but_3039259.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We never knew an ignorant person yet but was prejudiced.” — Mark Twain", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mark Twain", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We never knew an ignorant person...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but-was-prejudiced/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/we-never-knew-an-ignorant-person-yet-but-was-prejudiced/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```